President Obama hosted his last Easter Prayer Breakfast with Christian
leaders, pausing to reflect on what he called a “bittersweet” occasion.
“Since 2010 this has become a cherished tradition,” he said to 140
Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox leaders, including denominational
heads and prominent pastors, on Wednesday (March 30).
As he usually does, he used the occasion to speak openly about his
faith within the context of world events, such as the recent terrorist
assaults in Belgium and Pakistan.
“(T)hese attacks can foment fear and division,” he said.
“They can tempt us to cast out the stranger, strike out against those
who don’t look like us, or pray exactly as we do. And they can lead us
to turn our backs on those who are most in need of help and refuge.
“That’s the intent of the terrorist, is to weaken our faith and weaken our best impulses, our better angels.”
But he said people of faith should remain strong.
“(I)f Easter means anything, it’s that we don’t have to be afraid,”
Obama said. “We drown out darkness with light, and we heal hatred with
love, and we hold on to hope.”
He also used the breakfast to shed light on his own Christian perspective.
“(O)ur faith changes us. I know it’s changed me,” he said. “It renews
in us a sense of possibility. It allows us to believe that although we
are all sinners, and that at times we will falter, there’s always the
possibility of redemption. Every once in a while, we might get something
right, we might do some good.”
Other than his annual remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast, chaired
each February by members of Congress, the Easter Prayer Breakfast is
one of the few regular opportunities to hear Obama speak about his
personal faith.
Here’s a roundup of some of what he has said:
2015: ‘I fall short so often’
“Today we celebrate the magnificent glory of our risen savior. I pray
that we will live up to his example. I pray that I will live up to his
example. I fall short so often. Every day I try to do better.”
2015: ‘Less than loving expressions by Christians’
“On Easter, I do reflect on the fact that as a Christian, I am supposed
to love. And I have to say that sometimes when I listen to less than
loving expressions by Christians, I get concerned. But that’s a topic
for another day.”
2014: ‘We’re all children of God’
“(W)e have to keep coming together across faiths to combat the
ignorance and intolerance, including anti-Semitism that can lead to
hatred and to violence, because we’re all children of God,” he said
after the shooting deaths at two Jewish facilities in Kansas. “We’re all
made in his image, all worthy of his love and dignity. And we see what
happens around the world when this kind of religious-based or tinged
violence can rear its ugly head. It’s got no place in our society.”
2013: ‘He is eternal’
“I was reminded that while our time on Earth is fleeting, he is
eternal,” he said, recalling his recent trip to the Holy Land, including
stops at sacred places in Jesus’ life such as the Church of the
Nativity.
“His life, his lessons live on in our hearts and, most importantly, in
our actions. When we tend to the sick, when we console those in pain,
when we sacrifice for those in need, wherever and whenever we are there
to give comfort and to guide and to love, then Christ is with us.”
2012: ‘Remember Christ’s own doubts’
“We all have experiences that shake our faith. There are times where we
have questions for God’s plan relative to us … but that’s precisely
when we should remember Christ’s own doubts and eventually his own
triumph.”
2011: ‘It calls me to pray’
“This magnificent grace, this expansive grace, this ‘Amazing Grace’
calls me to reflect,” Obama said. “And it calls me to pray. It calls me
to ask God for forgiveness for the times that I’ve not shown grace to
others, those times that I’ve fallen short.”
2010: ‘I commit my spirit’
“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. These words were spoken by
our Lord and Savior, but they can just as truly be spoken by every one
of us here today. Their meaning can just as truly be lived out by all of
God’s children.”
Adelle M. Banks is production editor and a national reporter for RNS
Courtesy: Religion News Service
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